A new wave of talent is crashing on comedy’s shore. After Alfie Brown last week, John Kearns proves that his Edinburgh Fringe Best Newcomer award was no fluke. Sight Gags for Perverts (★★★★✩) is a brilliantly constructed piece of absurdist clowning. A latterday Godot, funny and profound.

It might look superficially as if Kearns is playing for silly laughs in his wonky false teeth and wig but there is existential depth as he deconstructs the unsettling nature of humour. “You’ve gotta feel funny to be funny,” he shouts, before entertaining us with gags and songs between hinting at personal torment. There is also an exploration of masculinity: go, but sit at the back unless you want to co-star.

While Kearns quotes Graham Greene, Liam Williams (★★★✩✩) references Larkin, but that is where stylistic similarities end. Williams is more overtly literary, a dour, northern, wannabe intellectual rather than fool, parodying Salinger and haughtily mocking a magazine’s quirky dating ideas: “Cocktails. In a tree!”.

Williams, a member of sketch group Sheeps, is almost as striking as Kearns even minus comedy dentures. Despite occasional dips, one senses something special here too. He might not be fully formed but one day Williams could be a comedy giant.